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That's an impossible question to answer, because it makes one or more assumptions that aren't necessarily true. Case in point, the question may refer to: *End Of Life EOL: When Apple stops supporting one particular model, *When the laptop physically won't be usable ("dies") *When most people sell their laptops and buy new ones I'll expand on all three and wrap up with a conclusion. *End Of Life: Unlike a lot of the competition, Apple does not (as far as I know) provide predetermined EOL for it's products. Furthermore, they have relatively few product lines that usually last for years on end - the iMac has been available for a decade, for instance. This means for the most part that they'll support their products longer than the competition, but in some cases they may come in shorter, if you buy a product right before it's terminated. The Macbook Pro without Retina displays are such products, for example - it's likely they'll be terminated within 1-2 years. Support will still be ongoing for at least another year or two thereafter, though. *When the laptop "dies" is hard to predict, since it depends mainly on usage, and most problems can be solved with reparation anyway - say a weak battery or failing hard drive. Thus, this isn't a big problem for most people, although it may prove more financially viable to buy a new computer once that happens. The battery supplied in an Apple notebook has a life expectancy of circa 5 years, but depending on usage that could equally turn out to be 3 years or 7 years. At any rate, most people won't wear down their Apple notebooks before they decide to buy a new one. *Alas, it's equally impossible to say when people buy new notebooks, but the average is most certainly two-three years or more. The differences between one iteration and the next is usually incremental and not worthy of an upgrade, so even the most devoted users rarely upgrade annually, thus keeping their notebooks for 2 years or more. Most non-geeks are likely to keep their notebooks until they fall apart, or until they feel the need for speed and want the latest and greatest operating system. One point of order, though, is that the Mac platform has picked up pace considerably the last couple of years. Previously, the ecosystem was moving forward quite slowly and most users could come along for the ride. Newer technologies, however, such as vastly improved graphics, multi-purpose WiFi and SSD drives, has forced OS X (the operating system) on a more aggressive path. Hence, you may find yourself with perfectly good hardware a couple of years down the line, but unable to upgrade to future versions of the operating system, which may render your device less useful. That is, however, pure speculation and it's impossible to foresee the ramifications of Apple's strategy. In conclusion, as you can see, there's absolutely no reason to not buy an Apple notebook if your concern is longevity. Even if we are conservative in our estimates, two years seems a reasonable baseline. Should we be more optimistic (or perhaps realistic ) we're talking three to five years. The main concern should be compatibility with future software, which means that it's a far better choice to go with an Air rather than a Pro, because the Pro uses last-generation and legacy technology which is on the way out, while the Air uses next-generation technology which is on the rise.